Device for eliminating humidity particularly from laundry

Abstract: The device for eliminating humidity particularly from laundry includes a frame body having inside, in combination, means for dehumidifying the air and means for heating the dehumidified air to a selected temperature.

Description: The present invention relates to a device for eliminating humidity particularly from laundry. As known, in the last years there has been a widespread use of implements for rapidly drying the laundry especially during the winter or in rooms with no heating system and/or located in areas with a high humidity level. These implements usually comprise an electric resistance adapted to heat the surrounding air and a blower adapted to blow the air heated by the resistance into the room where the laundry is hung. These implements often require sliding plastic sheets covering the laundry for preventing the dispersion of heat and for concentrating the heat in the area where the drying operation must be performed. It is easily understood that the conventional apparatus for drying the laundry increases the room temperature and causes the evaporation of the water contained in the laundry. The evaporated water is dispersed in the room increasing the humidity level of the room air. Consequently, because of the above, the laundry dries slower and the air which is again aspirated by the apparatus will eventually irreparably damage the apparatus. JP-A-02085623 and/or DE-A-3034168 and/or GB-A-2252401 disclose a device for eliminating humidity which comprises means for dehumidifying the air and means for heating the dehumified air at a selected temperature as disclosed in the pre-characterizing part of claim 1. The above patents do not teach a condenser and an evaporator both arranged in a container case having at least one aperture for providing a thermal divide as claimed in the characterizing part of claim 1. The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the above described inconveniences of the prior art by providing a device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, which device may also function as a dehumidifier adapted to eliminate the humidity from the room where it is installed. Within the above aim, an important object of the invention is to provide a device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, which may operate without any type of problem, whether mechanical or electrical, in rooms with a very high humidity level or in rooms with very low temperature or vice versa. A further object of the invention to provide a device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, having a high flexibility of use being usable as a simple thermofan for heating a room, as a dehumidifier for eliminating the humidity from the room, or as a laundry drier, acting, in this last case, at the same time as a thermofan and as a dehumidifier in order to ensure a virtually perfect and total drying of the laundry in a short time. Still a further object of the invention is to provide a device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, having small dimensions in order to be easily moved from one room to another and having a low cost for a wide diffusion with the public. The above aim, as well as these and other objects that will be more apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, as claimed in claim 1. Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be more apparent by the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, according to the invention, illustrated, by way of example in the enclosed drawing wherein the only figure is a cross-section side elevated view of the device according to the invention. With reference to the only figure, the device according to the invention, generally indicated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a body 2 having inside a means for dehumidifying the air, generally indicated by 3, and a means, generally indicated by the numeral 4, for heating the air to a selected temperature. In particular, the means 3 for dehumidifying the air comprises a compressor 5 adapted to compress a gas, for example the gas known commercially by the trademark "freon", which is therefore heated to a higher temperature. The heated freon reaches an at least one condenser 6 which condenses the freon. The freon cools down and releasing part of the heat to the air and becomes liquid. After going through a lamination member 7, the freon partially re-transforms into gas and cools down. The cooled down freon then arrives at an at least one evaporator 8 and becomes again an inert gas. By means of at least one ventilator 9, air is then sucked from the room where the device is located, through a first aperture 10 on the body 2 arranged in front of the evaporator 8. The air is the expelled through a second aperture 11 on the body 2 arranged in front of the condenser 6 and ventilator 9. In this manner, air entering the aperture 10 comes into contact with the evaporator 8. The evaporator 8 cools the air down thereby forming a condensate which is collected in a tank 13, arranged inside the body 2 below the condenser-evaporator. Advantageously, the evaporator 8 is of the type having flaps, as the condenser 6, in order to reach rather low ambient temperatures, of about 14-15 °C, without any forming of ice as in the conventional dehumidifier systems. In the conventional dehumidifier apparatus, in fact, the evaporator is formed by a coil which ices at a temperature of 16 °C, 17 °C and therefore requires a deicing device. Furthermore, advantageously, the ventilator 9 can invert the rotation direction, by means of switching means, in order to suck air from the second aperture 11 and expel air from the first aperture 10. In this manner, the air is heated by the condenser 6 and hits the evaporator 8 so that any frost which may have formed on the evaporator is eliminated. More in detail, the switching means comprises a switch 30 adapted to switch the rotation direction of the ventilator 9. The switch 30 may be activated by a probe 31 or by a timer 32, or by both. In case a probe is used, the probe may be arranged on the evaporator 8 in such a way as to detect the formation of frost on the evaporator; and/or the probe may be arranged on the inlet of the compressor in order to detect the temperature of the incoming freon; and/or the probe may be arranged at the first aperture 10 in order to detect the temperature of the incoming air. In case a timer is used, the timer will automatically activate the switch after variables time intervals. For example, every hour the timer stops the rotation of the ventilator, leaving the compressor work for example for one minute in order to raise the temperature of the condenser, and then the timer inverts the rotation of the ventilator in order to hit the evaporator with hot air. In case the probe is used, it will be the probe that decides when to operate in the manner illustrated above. Thanks to this solution, the dehumidifier may work optimally, even at very low temperatures, because it can defrost the evaporator in a rapid and easy manner, eliminating the conventional expensive and complex defrosting systems, such as the freon cycle inversion, the injection of hot freon in the evaporator, and the use of resistances on the evaporator. The condenser 6 and the evaporator 8 are rigidly connected one to another and are arranged in a container case, indicated by 14. The case 14 comprises at least one aperture 16 on the lateral sides. The aperture 16 is adapted to provide a thermal divide in order to prevent the heat from propagating from the condenser 6 to the evaporator 8. In this manner the efficiency of the dehumidifying action of the device is increased. Clearly, besides the aperture 16, the condenser 6 and the evaporator 8 are spaced apart by a selected distance in order not to influence each other with the consequent lowering of the efficiency of the device. Furthermore, the heating means 4 are advantageously arranged between the condenser 6 and the ventilator 9, the heating means are a resistance 17, adapted to heat the air coming from the first aperture 10, and which has passed the evaporator 8 and the condenser 6, in sequence. In a different embodiment, the resistance 17 may be arranged between the ventilator 9 and the second aperture 11. Furthermore, at the first aperture 10, a filter 29 is advantageously arranged and is adapted to prevent the deposit of dust and similar on the resistance 17. Dust which could burn when the resistance is activated causing serious damage to the device. The resistance 17 allows to further increase the temperature of the air, which has been already heated by going through condenser 6, and allows to further lower its humidity level in order to allow the dehumidifying of the room and/or the drying of the laundry, after the air is expelled from the ventilator 9. Clearly, the resistance 17 can be activated at the same time with the dehumidifying means 3 in order to dry the laundry by raising the air temperature of the room and by simultaneously extracting the humidity delivered to the same air during the drying of the laundry. In case only the resistance 17 is activated, the device operates as a traditional thermofan for heating a room. In case instead the resistance 17 is not activated, the device may operate as a conventional dehumidifier having however some added advantages with respect to the traditional dehumidifier machines. In fact, besides the evaporator having flaps like the condenser, the evaporator and the condenser are rigidly connected inside a container case and kept spaced apart in order to prevent any mutual influence, thanks also to the aperture 16 that defines the thermal divide on the case 14. This solution provides another advantage which has not yet been manifested. Thanks to the fact that the condenser 6 and the evaporator 8 are arranged inside the case 14, both are easily assembled in the device according to the invention. During manufacturing, it is possible to expand the tubes of the evaporator and of the condenser at the same time with one operation and it is possible to weld the curves 18 and the pins 19 of both simultaneously during their assembly. Not least, it is noted that the tank 13 comprises means for signaling its condition of being filled with condensate produced by the evaporator 8. Said means are formed by a floater 20 hinged to the tank 13 and having a rod 21 adapted to operate a switch 22 for excluding the operation of the device and for signalling the full tank allowing it to be emptied. The operation of the device according to the invention appears evident from what has been described and illustrated, namely there can be three types of operation. In case both the resistance 17 and the means 3 for dehumidifying are activated, the device will operate as an effective laundry dryer, on one hand raising the room temperature for helping the drying of the laundry, and on the other hand dehumidifying the room air to which the vapor coming from the drying laundry has been released. In this manner the drying of the laundry is optimized and all the shortcomings of the prior art have been eliminated. The device according to the invention may also been used as a thermofan for heating an otherwise unheated room. In this case only the resistance 17 is activated and air heated by the resistance will be delivered through the ventilator 9 from the second aperture 11. The third type of operation of the device according to the invention is that of air dehumidifier. In this case the dehumidifying means 3 are activated while the resistance 17 is instead deactivated. The dehumidifying means 3, as already said, will dehumidify the room air with a high efficiency of the device thanks to the above described features. It has been seen in practice that the device for eliminating humidity particularly from laundry, according to the invention, is particularly advantageous because is particularly flexible and at the same time has a high efficiency at very low costs. The materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to the specific needs and the state of the art. Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the scope of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims: Device for eliminating humidity, particularly from laundry, comprising a body (2) having inside in combination a means (3) for dehumidifying the air and means (4) for heating said dehumidified air at a selected temperature, said means (3) for dehumidifying the air comprising a compressor (5) for compressing a gas, at least one condenser (6) for condensing said gas, a laminating member (7) for said gas, at least one evaporator (8), at least one ventilator (9) for sucking air to be dehumidified from a first aperture (10) of said body, said aperture being arranged in front of said evaporator, and for delivering air from a second aperture (11), of said body, arranged in front of said condenser and said ventilator, and a tank (13) for collecting condensate produced by said evaporator, characterized in that said condenser and said evaporator are both of the same type with flaps and being rigidly connected to one another and being both arranged in a container case (14) having on its lateral sides (15) at least one aperture (16) for providing a thermal divide adapted to prevent heat transfer from said condenser to said evaporator so that said condenser and said evaporator are spaced apart one from the other of a selected distance and are so arranged in said case as to allow the simultaneous expanding of the tubes and the simultaneous welding of their curves (18) and pins (19) during their assembly into said case. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises switching means (30, 31, 32) for switching the rotation direction of said ventilator for sucking air from said second aperture and for delivering air from said first aperture. Device, according to claim 2, characterized in that said air sucked from said second aperture is heated by said condenser and hits said evaporator for defrosting said evaporator. Device, according to claim 2, characterized in that said switching means comprises a switch (30), of the rotation of said ventilator, said switch being activated by a probe (31) arranged on that evaporator and/or on the inlet of said compressor and/or on said first aperture. Device, according to claim 4, characterized in that said switch is activated by a timer (32) for selected time intervals. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said heating means (4) of said air are arranged between said condenser and said ventilator. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said ventilator has a rotation speed variable according to which of said means for dehumidifying or said means for heating have been activated.

Inventors: DE LONGHI GIUSEPPE, DE' LONGHI, GIUSEPPE
Applicants: LONGHI SPA DE, DE' LONGHI S.P.A.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: F24F3
IPC codes: D06F58, F24F3, F26B21, F24F1